Sunday, January 17 brought about threats of violence at all 50 state capitols and the nation’s capitol, Washington DC.
But the streets of DC were quiet.
On a sunny, chilly day, thousands of military personnel and law enforcement officers lined two perimeters in downtown: a soft perimeter, where civilians passed through gates and entered a supervised zone, and a hard perimeter, which required bag checks and metal detectors.
As I walked around the city, I was struck with how different it felt from when I had been in DC two months earlier, covering the Million MAGA March. The streets were nearly devoid of people, minus some residents who were biking, walking their dogs, or grabbing a cup of coffee. Protestors on either side of the aisle appeared to be in short supply.
Here is a little of what I saw:
